The Purification of Our Lady

Today is the feast of the Purification of Our Lady and the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple or Candlemas. It marks the fortieth day after the Birth of Our Lord and the end of the Season of Christmastide.

Risë Stevens, seen here singing with Bing Crosby in Going My Way, was one of the great voices of the New York Metropolitan Opera. This clip captures a sense of that time when popular culture deferred to Catholic Culture, a time when Catholics deferred to Catholic Culture, a time when men were men and Popes were Pius.

Going My Way starred Bing Crosby as Fr. O'Mally and Barry Fitzgerald as Fr. Fitzgibbon. It won the Oscars for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Original Song, Best Original Story and Best Screenplay and three further nominations in 1945. It was followed by The Bells of St. Mary's, starring Bing Crosby again as Fr. O'Mally and Ingrid Bergman as St. M. Benedict. The Bells of St. Mary's won one Oscar and seven nominations in 1946. Going My Way was reprised as a television series in 1962-3 starring Gene Kelly in the Crosby role and Leo G. Carroll in Fitzgerald's.

Leo McCarey, the writer and director on both films, was one of the outstanding Catholics of the so-called 'golden age' of Hollywood, amassing 3 Oscars and a further 10 nominations.